LOS ANGELES >> The play started with the ball on the ground and finished with with the ball in the end zone.

In between, from near disaster to sudden delirium, from fumble to phenomenal, in the middle of maybe the longest 11-yard touchdown pass in USC history, Sam Darnold reminded everyone why he is — and always should have been – USC’s quarterback.

“There are going to be mistakes,” Trojans coach Clay Helton said. “That’s going to happen with a redshirt freshman. We’ll live with it. But, he’s one of those guys, you don’t make him a robot.”

No, you don’t, mostly because, if you tried to make Darnold a robot, his creative mind and free-wheeling skills probably would snap a spring or two.

In his third start, the former San Clemente High star supplied his team three touchdown passes and supplied the other team three turnovers, Darnold and the Trojans still dynamic enough to beat Colorado, 21-17.

Darnold had two fumbles lost and an interception. But he also threw for 358 yards, found seven different targets and had three completions that covered more than 30 yards.

He fumbled once while lunging into the end zone, certainly costing USC points in a game the Trojans could have won more comfortably.

Darnold, however, also again displayed the promise and composure that suggest he could develop into something special at a school that has developed its share of special quarterbacks.

“I think I have to do a better job of knowing when a play is over and not trying to fight so hard for it,” he said. “A lot of times…it ends up in a fumble. It ends up in me losing the ball.”

The ball maybe, but, on Saturday, not the ballgame. And, after opening the season 1-3, victories are all that matter for the Trojans and Helton, who continues to try to prove he’s worthy of the contract the school gave him last year.

Darnold – with a notable assist from Darreus Rogers – led the Trojans on a 70-yard drive that resulted in the winning touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The next time USC had the ball, Darnold – with a notable assist from JuJu Smith-Schuster – guided a 10-play drive that took the final 4:49 off the clock, burying the Buffaloes, who entered ranked No. 21 nationally but didn’t exit that way.

“When you have a kid that has this amount of instinct and create-ability, I don’t think you handcuff him,” Helton said. “I think you play the game with no fear, and he does.”

Fearless expertly describes Darnold’s signature play Saturday, when, in the span of several dizzying seconds just before halftime, he turned nothing into everything.

On first down at the Colorado 11-yard line, Darnold initially fumbled as he faked a handoff to tailback Justin Davis.

“I could have just jumped on top of it and been safe that way,” the young quarterback explained later. “But…”

But…what fun is that? So, instead, Darnold retrieved the ball, circled away from one charging Colorado defender, reversed to the other side the field and, with two more Buffaloes descending on him, heaved a pass toward Tyler Petite.

The sophomore tight end caught the ball about one yard beyond the line of scrimmage and then negotiated the remaining distance to reach the end zone for a 14-0 Trojans lead.

“He does some things that people can’t do,” Helton said of Darnold. “So let him do it.”

Later, when the game was even 14-14 and waiting to be won, Darnold did it again, first connecting with Rogers on a 46-yard pass that, before proving to be magnificent, teetered on absolute calamity.

In fact, when he under-threw the attempt, Darnold admitted he was “thinking pick the whole way.” Both head coaches said the same thing.

Rogers, however, went over Colorado cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to secure the ball like a big brother refusing to let his little brother play along.

Four plays later, Darnold hit Petite again, this time for a 7-yard touchdown that would – statistically, at least – definitely win the game.

The victory, though, wasn’t officially sealed until USC’s next possession and Darnold’s final completion, this one to Smith-Schuster for a brilliant 25-yard touchdown pass that did everything but reach the actual end zone.

Instead, having clinched the necessary first down that would permit USC to run out the final minute, Smith-Schuster slid at the Colorado 14, effectively tackling himself when no Buffaloes would have been able to do so.

It wasn’t a touchdown-saving tackle; it was a touchdown-depriving tackle, an act today’s young people might consider the ultimate selfie.

“It was hard,” Smith-Schuster confirmed. “It took a lot out of me to go down. You think about your teammates more than you do yourself.”

And, right now, at 3-3, that’s the best approach for the rebounding Trojans, who are willing to live with the misplays of their redshirt freshman quarterback, especially if they can also win with the same kid’s made plays.

Jeff Miller has been a sports columnist since 1998, having previously written for the Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald. He began at the Register in 1995 as beat writer for the Angels.